Union College Smokers: Hurting Themselves But Helping Others? Mixed Research on the Relationship Between Smoking and Volunteering

This mixed methodology research project analyzes the relationship between smoking cigarettes and volunteer participation rates utilizing an empirical analysis of 2006 and 2010 Current Population Surveys (CPS), as well as a qualitative analysis on the perception and behaviors of Union College student smokers. Existing studies have indicated a negative association between smoking cigarettes and social participation, yet little research has been done on the specific relationship between smoking status and volunteer participation. Utilizing CPS supplements on tobacco use and volunteering, this empirical analysis finds that smoking cigarettes has a significant association with decreased volunteer participation rates. This research also includes an analysis of in-depth interviews conducted on a handful of Union College student smokers, as well as an overview of the changing Union College tobacco policy and its potential effects on the student body

An experimental study of attitudes to changing water charges in Scotland. ESRI Working Paper No.654 March 2020

If an aim of a regulatory body is to act on behalf of the views of its citizenry, then it is important to understand what those views are. This paper, in collaboration with the OECD and the Scottish water industry, presents the results of an online (n= 500) and face-to-face laboratory (n= 100) study that utilised experimental behavioural science to explore how the provision and presentation of future price change information influences Scottish citizens’ acceptance of water price changes. Participants were asked to rate different patterns of price rises for their water charges. The pattern, presentation, magnitude of price rises and the provision of additional cost information (designed to simplify the calculations of future costs) was manipulated across tasks and participants. Results from this study suggest that Scottish citizens are generally accepting of price rises in the short and medium terms. However, the patterns of price rises, and the way in which information is presented, can influence these attitudes, suggesting that consumers do not always accurately integrate sequential price rises over time. Findings from this study are designed to inform the regulatory process of the Scottish water industry and highlight the potential role of behavioural science in regulation more generally

Arts & Cultural Districts and Preservation Policy: A Neighborhood Analysis of the River North (RiNo) Art District

Though cultural planning is a relatively recent concept its contribution to urban planning and historic preservation is paramount. Many states, cities and smaller communities within the United States have turned to cultural planning and programming to aid revitalization and development, including arts and cultural districts, which serve as models of place-based ingenuity. These places serve as points of community engagement and economic development as well as support the cultural identities that strengthen business and tourism. Moreover, they are designed to encourage artists, entrepreneurs, institutions and potential developers to build upon and organize around existing arts and culture-based resources. Presently, existing literature discusses the role of the historic built environment and the creation of creative industries. Historic buildings often provide small, affordable spaces suitable for small businesses. Additionally, there is a substantial amount of literature stating the direct correlation between historic preservation and the overall economic growth of neighborhoods. However, no literature exists that explores the connection of arts and cultural districts and their historic built environments. This research aims to fill this literary gap and understand the role that historic built environments play in the vitality of arts and cultural districts. The study undergoes an intensive examination of a singular case study, the River North (RiNo) Art District in Denver, Colorado, through qualitative and quantitative analyses. This thesis proves the economic value and visual appeal that these historic buildings have on the RiNo Art District, and provides recommendations that help to expand the preservation toolbox and facilitate an intersection between arts and cultural districts and the preservation field

Using behavioural science to help fight the coronavirus. ESRI Working Paper No. 656 March 2020

This paper summarises useful evidence from behavioural science for fighting the COVID-19 outbreak. It is based on an extensive literature search of relevant behavioural interventions and studies of crises. The findings aim to be useful not only to government and public authorities, but to organisations, workplaces and households. Seven issues are covered: (1) Evidence on handwashing shows that education and information are not enough. Placing hand sanitisers and colourful signage in central locations (e.g. directly beyond doors, canteen entrances, the middle of entrance halls and lift lobbies) increases use substantially. All organisations and public buildings could adopt this cheap and effective practice. (2) By contrast, we lack direct evidence on reducing face touching. Articulating new norms of acceptable behaviour (as for sneezing and coughing) and keeping tissues within arm’s reach could help. (3) Isolation is likely to cause some distress and mental health problems, requiring additional services. Preparedness, through activating social networks, making concrete isolation plans, and becoming familiar with the process, helps. These supports are important, as some people may try to avoid necessary isolation. (4) Public-spirited behaviour is most likely when there is clear and frequent communication, strong group identity, and social disapproval for those who don’t comply. This has implications for language, leadership and day-to-day social interaction. (5) Authorities often overestimate the risk of panic, but undesirable behaviours to watch out for are panic buying of key supplies and xenophobic responses. Communicating the social unacceptability of both could be part of a collective strategy. (6) Evidence links crisis communication to behaviour change. As well as speed, honesty and credibility, effective communication involves empathy and promoting useful individual actions and decisions. Using multiple platforms and tailoring message to subgroups are beneficial too. (7) Risk perceptions are easily biased. Highlighting single cases or using emotive language will increase bias. Risk is probably best communicated through numbers, with ranges to describe uncertainty, emphasising that numbers in the middle are more likely. Stating a maximum, e.g. “up to X thousand”, will bias public perception. A final section discusses possibilities for combining these insights, the need for simplicity, the role of the media, and possibilities for rapid pretesting

The role and regulation of Rif1 as an anti-checkpoint protein in S. cerevisiae

Ph. D. Thesis.The response to DNA damage is imperative to deciding the future of a cell. Damage needs to be repaired before the cell cycle is allowed to continue, or the cell must be destroyed. We study the role of the budding yeast telomeric protein Rif1 during arrest of the cell cycle, primarily in the temperature sensitive cdc13-1 strains, which undergoes telomere uncapping and DNA strand resection. Rap-interacting factor 1 (Rif1) forms a complex with Rap1 and Rif2 to antagonise the action of telomerase at telomeres. Rif1 has since been shown to be conserved across eukaryotes, with roles in a number of processes such as a globally conserved role in regulation of replication timing, and repair pathway choice at mammalian double strand breaks. We further develop an observed anti-checkpoint role of Rif1 during telomere uncapping, which correlates to a cell cycle arrest dependent phosphorylation of Rif1. In this we have demonstrated the likely phosphorylation sites of Rif1 during cell cycle arrest, as well as the importance of these sites for this anti-checkpoint role. Through substitution of these amino acid residues we have demonstrated that cdc13-1 strains containing non-phosphorylated Rif1 protein show increased sickness. We have further demonstrated that this phosphorylation is downstream of the activity of the CDK1 equivalent, Cdc28, and also occurs in cell cycle arrest resulting from multiple arresting reagents. We propose that Rif1 binds to regions of resected DNA and thereby shields ssDNA from recognition by checkpoint proteins, and that this interaction is regulated by the addition of phosphoryl groups at Serine-57 and Serine-110. The potentially conserved nature of this interaction could impact studies on RIF1 in human cells

An active-architecture approach to COTS integration

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software products are increasingly used as standard components within integrated information systems. This creates challenges since both their developers and source code are not usually available, and the ongoing development of COTS cannot be predicted. The ArchWare Framework approach recognises COTS products as part of the ambient environment of an information system and therefore an important part of development is incorporating COTS as effective system components. This integration of COTS components, and the composition of components, is captured by an active architecture model which changes as the system evolves. Indeed the architecture modelling language used enables it to express the monitoring and evolution of a system. This active architecture model is structured using control system principles. By modelling both integration and evolution it can guide the system’s response to both predicted and emergent changes that arise from the use of COTS products.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The scope and limitations of novel NMR techniques to characterise and quantify biologically active compounds in the 'Stratum corneum'

The accurate determination of biologically active compounds in the skin is of considerable importance when evaluating the penetration of skin health products through different layers of the skin. This thesisreportsonthecharacterisation andquantitation ofbiologically active compoundsinsimple model mixtures and complex mixtures which mimic that of a typical skin product, through the use of qNMR, pure shift NMR and DOSY techniques complemented by semi-automated software packages. Characterisation and quantitation conditions were acquired over several heterogeneous samples allowingfor analysisofhowdynamicrangeand complexity of different sample mixtures affect the Limits of Detection (LOD) and Limits of Quantitation (LOQ) of biologically active compounds. NMR is of particular value inthis task, as it is non-destructive, uses a primary ratio method for quantification, and tolerates a wide variety of hydrophilic and hydrophobic components within a given matrix. In this investigation we have attained a trueness level <10%, repeatability values of <1% and brought the limit of quantitation down to 100nM ( ̃limit of baseline range of several key biomarkers in the skin per litre seen in vivo), while commenting on the limitations observed, such as peakoverlap and sensitivity limits. Pure shift optimised sequences allow ustoreducepeakoverlapping, allowing further characterisation of individual compounds and the separation of complex mixtures using NMR. These validated methodologies are then all brought together to develop a new methodology for ex-vivo analysis of skin layers. This analysis allowed for characterisation and quantitation of natural moisturising factors (NMF), biomarkers of hydration and skin health alongside construction of permeation profiles for common topical components in different formulations. Data analysis demonstrates resultscorroboratewithresults seen in previous validated methodologies which havemore complex and time-consumingpreparation and data processingthan the proof of concept study presented here

Public understanding and perceptions of the COVID-19 Test-and-Trace system. ESRI Survey and Statistical Report Series 96 August 2021.

Almost half of people do not know that calling their GP to discuss symptoms of COVID-19 is free, according to new ESRI research, and over one third think they could be charged for a test. These wrongly perceived costs could deter or delay people from arranging a test if they experience symptoms

Mercurian impact ejecta: Meterorites and mantle

We have examined the fate of impact ejecta liberated from the surface of Mercury due to impacts by comets or asteroids, in order to study (1) meteorite transfer to Earth, and (2) re-accumulation of an expelled mantle in giant-impact scenarios seeking to explain Mercury's large core. In the context of meteorite transfer, we note that Mercury's impact ejecta leave the planet's surface much faster (on average) than other planet's in the Solar System because it is the only planet where impact speeds routinely range from 5-20 times the planet's escape speed. Thus, a large fraction of mercurian ejecta may reach heliocentric orbit with speeds sufficiently high for Earth-crossing orbits to exist immediately after impact, resulting in larger fractions of the ejecta reaching Earth as meteorites. We calculate the delivery rate to Earth on a time scale of 30 Myr and show that several percent of the high-speed ejecta reach Earth (a factor of -3 less than typical launches from Mars); this is one to two orders of magnitude more efficient than previous estimates. Similar quantities of material reach Venus. These calculations also yield measurements of the re-accretion time scale of material ejected from Mercury in a putative giant impact (assuming gravity is dominant). For mercurian ejecta escaping the gravitational reach of the planet with excess speeds equal to Mercury's escape speed, about one third of ejecta re-accretes in as little as 2 Myr. Thus collisional stripping of a silicate proto-mercurian mantle can only work effectively if the liberated mantle material remains in small enough particles that radiation forces can drag them into the Sun on time scale of a few million years, or Mercury would simply re-accrete the material.Comment: 14 pages. Submitted to Meteoritics and Planetary Scienc

A Randomized Greedy Algorithm for Near-Optimal Sensor Scheduling in Large-Scale Sensor Networks

We study the problem of scheduling sensors in a resource-constrained linear dynamical system, where the objective is to select a small subset of sensors from a large network to perform the state estimation task. We formulate this problem as the maximization of a monotone set function under a matroid constraint. We propose a randomized greedy algorithm that is significantly faster than state-of-the-art methods. By introducing the notion of curvature which quantifies how close a function is to being submodular, we analyze the performance of the proposed algorithm and find a bound on the expected mean square error (MSE) of the estimator that uses the selected sensors in terms of the optimal MSE. Moreover, we derive a probabilistic bound on the curvature for the scenario where{\color{black}{ the measurements are i.i.d. random vectors with bounded $\ell_2$ norm.}} Simulation results demonstrate efficacy of the randomized greedy algorithm in a comparison with greedy and semidefinite programming relaxation methods